ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has written a letter to Afghanistan to arrest Maulana Masood Azhar, the head of banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, as part of the country’s commitment with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to go after the UN-designated terrorists.

Through the letter sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the interim Afghanistan government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it has been indicated that Azhar is possibly taking refuge in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Kunar provinces.

It has further been demanded that Azhar should be arrested and handed over to the government of Pakistan.

Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar, however, refrained from making any comment on the development.

The development comes days after a 15-member technical team, comprising counterterrorism experts from the FATF member states, concluded an onsite visit of Pakistan to verify and confirm the reforms undertaken by the country with regard to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

The FATF team visited Pakistan from August 29 to September 5, 2022, and held meetings with the country’s leadership, besides getting briefings from relevant authorities on Pakistan’s implemented reforms.

Investigating and prosecuting the terrorist financing of senior leaders of UN-designated terrorist groups was the critical item in the FATF action plan that was given to Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022